Some employers may be apprehensive about being on-campus this autumn. University of Nottingham and University of Sheffield explains how universities manage student protests and the opportunity for careers education.

Let’s state the obvious – the student population has a massive range of interests, backgrounds and beliefs. Some students are highly engaged in certain topics, others aren’t.

University students and staff don’t have a homogenous view on the world. Those of us working in higher education understand and respect that.

However, there has been an upturn in the volume of activity in the last two years, and in some cases on-campus protests are happening for the first time for several colleagues.

Protest themes

The main topics that are fuelling discussion on campus, and in several cases protest, are the situation in Palestine, the links universities have with the defence and the fossil fuel industries.

In some cases, campaigns are conflating political risk and defence with ‘arms’ and ‘military’. And there are examples of companies that recruit students that do work in both the defence and the arms manufacturing industries.

Many university cities and campuses have seen encampments, marches and demonstrations. Several universities have seen specific action at events.

Careers education

Most universities are members of the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) and as such abide by their code of ethics and the principle of impartiality.

Most university careers services have a vacancy handling policy which clearly explains which industries they deal with. You can find the AGCAS documents via:
https://www.agcas.org.uk/agcas-member-code-of-ethics
https://www.agcas.org.uk/agcas-position-and-impartiality-and-the-promotion-of-particular-employers-and-industry-sectors

Impartial careers education provides students and graduates with the necessary knowledge and skills to self-manage learning and careers so that they can make informed choices based on personal abilities, needs and preferences.

Academic and industry partnerships enhance curriculum relevance, ensuring students and graduates are well-prepared for real-world challenges.

Engaging with what some students might call ‘contentious’ industries is core to academic freedom of debate and expression. Industry partnerships enable universities to influence ethical practices, spark dialogue and advocate for responsible research and adherence to international norms.

All our students and graduates are encouraged to consider ethical factors associated with any industry they desire to work in when researching career opportunities.

University careers services respect the wishes of students who want to work in certain industries, as we do with those who don’t. No student is ever forced to attend something with an employer or industry they don’t feel morally or ethically comfortable with.

Collaboration

There’s been a lot of discussion between universities about preparation for the autumn term and how we enable careers fairs to go ahead without disruption, particularly where there might be representatives from contentious sectors.

Helpful advice is shared between institutions, particularly about effective ways to engage students, how to build relationships with on-campus support teams, how to plan event layouts, how to prepare and support employers and effective preventative and incident management approaches.

Peaceful, respectful, protest is part of our ethos around freedom of expression and widely accepted at events. Disruptive protest, that prevents students from accessing employers or activities, isn’t.

Managing activity on-campus

Where students wish to make a point, and provide information, there are ways to make that happen. Many universities are offering space for students to hold a peaceful protest outside an event, or for leaflets to be displayed by protest groups explaining their campaigns.

Discussion between the careers service, campus security and the students’ union is crucial.

Security teams aren’t an on-campus police force, they play a significant pastoral role and help to ensure student safety and harmony. They know what’s going on, and they know how to resolve problems. Many universities are working closely with their campus security teams to upgrade event check-in and registration procedures.

Almost all will employ rigorous scanning of ID cards or for on-campus events, ensure venues have barriers, gates or access protocols that can be swiftly activated or amended. Alongside this, bag checking has become more common at careers fairs, to ensure that items used to facilitate a disruptive protest don’t make it into an event.

Security teams have access to social media monitoring and where they have knowledge of a likely disruptive protest, they may provide additional staffing at an event to minimise the impact on exhibitors

Liaison between careers services and their students’ union can often help reduce the likelihood or lessen the impact that a protest campaign might have.

Several students’ unions have official policies or mandates in place, passed by the Union Council or equivalent, mandating their members to protest and object to a certain employer or industry.

Where that occurs, careers services are respectful and careful in planning where activities take place and who with. For example, if our students’ union passed a motion about defence companies, or the fossil fuel industry, we wouldn’t think of putting a fair or presentation in space owned by or close to the union.

Employer activities

Careers services are being open with recruiters about the challenges they face at the moment. There is a likelihood that some employers might face a protest, or be named in literature, or be tagged in social media campaigns by student groups. And we do agree that in some cases, the link made by a protest group of a recruiter to their campaign is tenuous.

We advise employers to notify careers services if they anticipate any negative attention at events, be prepared to answer difficult questions, and understand that this view of the world isn’t the view of the student majority, but it does come from a vocal and active subset.

There are situations where the likelihood and type of action puts an employer off from coming to a campus, or where a careers service determines it’s in best interests for a recruiter not to be at an event. This is done to ensure the physical and psychological wellbeing of visitors and colleagues.

We’ve seen examples of alternative provision to provide students with the opportunity to speak to employers – some universities are organising trips to businesses for interested students, and there’s been an increase in the number of work shadowing and insight days being provided too.

Our overriding message is that campaign and protest are led by a minority of the student population. The majority of students are keen to see employers and industries in person, on campus, as are careers services.

Student, employer and staff safety is paramount as is maintaining a good relationship between universities and recruiters. We want you to be able to identify, source and recruit the very best talent into your roles and whilst some activities may be impacted by student protest, we still have plenty of ways in which you can work with us.

Join us for our forthcoming HE Conference that connects higher education career professionals with early talent industry leaders.

You may also be interested in

How can data ignite relationships between universities and employers?

City’s award-winning Career Activation Programme

How universities can develop collaborative projects with employers